Are patients with schizophrenia impaired in processing non-emotional features of human faces?

Hayley Darke, Joel S. Peterman, Sohee Park, Suresh Sundram, Olivia Carter

Research output: Contribution to journalShort SurveyOtherpeer-review

41 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

It is known that individuals with schizophrenia exhibit signs of impaired face processing, however, the exact perceptual and cognitive mechanisms underlying these deficits are yet to be elucidated. One possible source of confusion in the current literature is the methodological and conceptual inconsistencies that can arise from the varied treatment of different aspects of face processing relating to emotional and non-emotional aspects of face perception. This review aims to disentangle the literature by focusing on the performance of patients with schizophrenia in a range of tasks that required processing of non-emotional features of face stimuli (e.g., identity or gender). We also consider the performance of patients on non-face stimuli that share common elements such as familiarity (e.g., cars) and social relevance (e.g., gait). We conclude by exploring whether observed deficits are best considered as "face-specific" and note that further investigation is required to properly assess the potential contribution of more generalized attentional or perceptual impairments.

Original languageEnglish
Article numberArticle 529
JournalFrontiers in Psychology
Volume4
Issue numberAUG
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2013
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Detection
  • Face
  • Gait
  • Identity
  • Perception
  • Recognition
  • Schizophrenia
  • Vision

Cite this